Thesis (M.A.E.T.)--Western Seminary, 1997. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 54-57).

Thesis (M.A.)--Michigan State University. Dept. of Psychology, 2007. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Aug. 11, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 94-97). Also issued in print.

In the face of stagnation in efforts to tackle the global increase of greenhouse gas emissions, there is a great need to broaden our understanding of normative processes that maintain and change social norms in relation to environmentally (un)sustainable lifestyles. My research aims to address this gap in the literature by examining the normative processes associated with climate change. More specifically I focused on identifying the interpersonal costs and wider benefits (in terms of social change) associated with the interpersonal confrontation of environmental disregard. Firstly, to establish a meaningful point of comparison for subsequent studies, I compared the normative status of environmental disregard and racial prejudice (Studies 1 & 2). I then moved on to examining perceptions and consequences of interpersonal confrontation of environmental disregard over the course of six studies by placing participants in the position of an observer of an interaction in which the confrontation occurred. The results consistently identified high social costs (reduced feelings of closeness and warmth) associated with confronting environmental disregard (but not racism). The costs of confronting environmental disregard were partly determined by the morality of the issue, the appropriateness of the confrontation, the pre-existing attitude of the observer and the justification used by the confronter for their reaction. My studies also tested different strategies to reduce the social costs for the confronter (such as invoking morality in different ways) and also assessed the consequences of confrontation for changes in perceptions of social norms, climate change attitudes and behavioural tendencies amongst those bearing witness. In relation to the consequences for behavioural tendencies resulting from interpersonal confrontation, the findings suggest that confrontation of environmental disregard encourages pro-environmental action tendencies if a scientific justification for the confrontation is provided. The final chapter of the thesis explores the theoretical and practical implications of these findings in relation to engendering processes of social change.

This study focuses on confrontational behavior patterns exhibited by Japanese and U.S. college students in the Portland Metropolitan area. Four questions are addressed: 1) is there a difference Japanese and U.S. confrontation styles? 2) do Japanese use differing confrontation styles depending upon whom they are interacting with? 3) do U.S. individuals use differing confrontation styles depending upon whom they are interacting with? and 4) is there a significant gender difference between Japanese and U.S. confrontation styles? In addition, correlations between the Japanese and U.S. reported confrontation styles and their demographic data are examined.

To date, little research has explored the utility of inter-personal confrontation as a strategy for the reduction of homonegative attitudes and/or behaviours among heterosexual women. Consequently, the purpose of the current study was to explore three unique aspects of such confrontations among a sample of heterosexual women from the University of Saskatchewan. These three aspects were: 1) to what extent do high- and low-prejudiced womens reactions to confrontations of subtle homonegative behaviour differ; 2) what differences exist in the way that heterosexual women respond to bias directed towards gay men than to bias directed towards lesbian women; 3) what effect does the vested interest of a confronter have on heterosexual womens reaction to confrontations of homonegative behaviour. A 2(target condition) X 2(modern homonegativity endorsement) X 4(confronter type) between-subjects design was used wherein 286 female volunteers completed a questionnaire booklet developed for the project. The questionnaire booklet asked participants to first imagine themselves in a scenario where they would be confronted for engaging in subtle homonegative behaviour and to then indicated how they would think, feel, and behave in response to such a confrontation. The results indicated that low-prejudice participants reacted with greater negative-self directed affect (e.g., guilt) and compunction (e.g., apologize for behaviour) than high-prejudice participants when confronted by either a gay man or lesbian woman. Such reactions are important as they mark the initiation of a self-regulatory cycle that allows the individual to avoid such biased behaviour in the future. Limitations of the study and directions for future research concerning inter-personal confrontations of homonegativity are also presented.

To date, little research has explored the utility of inter-personal confrontation as a strategy for the reduction of homonegative attitudes and/or behaviours among heterosexual women. Consequently, the purpose of the current study was to explore three unique aspects of such confrontations among a sample of heterosexual women from the University of Saskatchewan. These three aspects were: 1) to what extent do high- and low-prejudiced womens reactions to confrontations of subtle homonegative behaviour differ; 2) what differences exist in the way that heterosexual women respond to bias directed towards gay men than to bias directed towards lesbian women; 3) what effect does the vested interest of a confronter have on heterosexual womens reaction to confrontations of homonegative behaviour. A 2(target condition) X 2(modern homonegativity endorsement) X 4(confronter type) between-subjects design was used wherein 286 female volunteers completed a questionnaire booklet developed for the project. The questionnaire booklet asked participants to first imagine themselves in a scenario where they would be confronted for engaging in subtle homonegative behaviour and to then indicated how they would think, feel, and behave in response to such a confrontation. The results indicated that low-prejudice participants reacted with greater negative-self directed affect (e.g., guilt) and compunction (e.g., apologize for behaviour) than high-prejudice participants when confronted by either a gay man or lesbian woman. Such reactions are important as they mark the initiation of a self-regulatory cycle that allows the individual to avoid such biased behaviour in the future. Limitations of the study and directions for future research concerning inter-personal confrontations of homonegativity are also presented.

What is the state's duty to penalize serious interpersonal exploitation using the criminal law? Does the state discharge this duty appropriately? These are large questions and this thesis sets out to reassess one part of the puzzle of exploitation. The focus is upon interpersonal exploitation and property offences in England and Wales. Criminal law commentators frequently state that several property offences are justified on the basis that they penalize exploitation. For example, the tendency has been to assume that section 1 of the Fraud Act 2006 performs this function, together with its accompanying sentencing guidelines. One of the objectives of this thesis is to expose the precarious foundations of relying upon existing property offences to censure exploitation. For example, it is not clear what the scope of the wrong of exploitation under discussion actually is. This thesis argues that analysis of the relationship between wrongful interpersonal exploitation and property offences has been woefully superficial in English law and is ripe for reappraisal. The second objective is to identify and to elucidate a hitherto neglected wrong of acquisitive exploitation. An analytical account of the wrong is presented which will be of interest to criminal law theorists. Acquisitive exploitation represents a distinctive method of using vulnerable persons, under the cover of dishonesty. With a careful account of wrongful acquisitive exploitation in hand, the third objective is to raise questions about criminal liability for acquisitive exploitation. Ought the criminal law to penalize acquisitive exploitation, and, if so, how? Are there grounds for penalizing acquisitive exploitation more consistently and with improved labelling? These questions must be thoroughly debated. A credible opening bid is presented in relation to them - first, by considering whether acquisitive exploitation might be used to more fairly label property offences; and second, by assessing justifications for a substantive acquisitive exploitation offence.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The Confronting Prejudiced Responses (CPR) Model (Ashburn-Nardo, Morris, & Goodwin, 2008) describes factors that predict whether people confront prejudice that they witness. The present research examined some of these factors, including: observer prejudice level (low to high), discrimination type (racism or sexism), and perpetrator status (subordinate, peer, or supervisor to observer). Three hundred forty students from a large urban university in the Midwest read scenarios involving racism or sexism and completed items related to the CPR Model and measures of racial vs. gender attitudes. Results indicated that participants were more likely to report that they would confront racism than sexism, especially to the extent that they had low-prejudice attitudes. In addition, participants were less likely to report directly confronting (and more likely to report the incident to an authority when the perpetrator was) a supervisor than a peer or subordinate. Implications of this research include using the CPR Model as a method to educate organizations on prejudice reduction strategies in the workplace.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Women who fail to confront sexism can experience negative intrapersonal consequences, such as greater negative self-directed affect (negself) and greater obsessive thoughts, particularly if they are highly committed to challenging sexism. Female undergraduates (N = 392) were sampled to investigate whether failing to confront past sexism influences future task performance and whether any effects on performance occur through the depletion of cognitive resources. Participants were randomly assigned to recall either confronting or failing to confront past sexism, then completed measures of affect, obsessive thoughts, working memory, and performance. Women who recalled failing to confront were expected to have greater negself and obsessive thoughts related to the situation and lower working memory and performance, and desire to respond to the situation was expected to moderate these effects. As predicted, compared with women who recalled confronting, women who recalled failing to confront reported greater negself. Contrary to predictions, there was no significant effect of confrontation condition on obsessive thoughts, working memory, or performance. However, condition interacted with desire to confront, such that the more women who recalled failing to confront wanted to respond to the situation, the more negself they reported and the lower their working memory. In addition, for women who recalled confronting, greater desire to respond was associated with higher performance, while desire to respond was unrelated to performance for women who recalled failing to confront. In contrast to predictions, neither obsessive thoughts nor working memory mediated the failure to confront-performance relationship, and there was no evidence of moderated mediation. In sum, although the cognitive variables of obsessive thoughts and working memory did not mediate the effect of failing to confront on performance, the results nevertheless demonstrate the importance of confronting sexism, particularly when one wants to do so, and have important implications for settings like the workplace where women may face discrimination and have to decide whether or not to confront.